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Aquileia (Friulian Aquilee, Slovene Oglej) is an ancient Roman town of Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 km from the sea, on the river Natiso (modern Natisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times.Aquileia was founded by the Romans in 180/181 BC on the narrow strip between the mountains and the lagoons, as a frontier fortress on the north-east. Main sights in Aquileia are: Cathedral and Acient remains.
The Cathedral of Aquileia is one of the most important edifices of Christianity. It is a flat-roofed basilica erected by Patriarch Poppo in 1031 on the site of an earlier church, and rebuilt about 1379 in the Gothic style by Patriarch Marquad.
The ancient buildings of Aquileia served as stone quarries for centuries, and no edifices of the Roman period remain above ground. Excavations have revealed one street and the north-west angle of the town walls, while the National Archaeological Museum (one of the most important museum of Ancient Rome in the world) contains over 2,000 inscriptions, statues and other antiquities, as well as glasses of local production and a numismatics collection.
The distance from Lignano is 60 km., about 50 minutes by car. |